When you buy a license for GPMAW, the installation includes a license file (usually labeled “gpmaw.lcs). This file contains, among other things, purchase date information. GPMAW looks for this file is read every time it starts, and if not present or invalid, the program defaults to demo mode.End users are entitled to free upgrades for at least one year, this may extend up to 1½ year for licenses bought directly from Lighthouse data.

Known problems.

If you upgrade GPMAW and you have an older version of Windows, GPMAW needs a .dll file called gdiplus.dll. This file can be downloaded here. Copy the file either to \gpmaw\bin\ (same location as gpmaw3.exe) or copy it to \WINDOWS\system32\

How can I determine whether I can upgrade?

Open the About box (from the main menu in GPMAW select Help | About...). This shows the license date as month - year. You will, in general, then be able to install an upgrade dated up to 17 month after this date.You can check the suitability of the most recent upgrade version by checking the ‘Info’ button in the bottom right corner of the About dialog. GPMAW will then interrogate the web server whether the most recent version is covered by your license. Note: This option is only available from version GPMAW version 5.02 onwards.

If GPMAW goes into demo mode after an upgrade, what do I do?

The most likely cause of this happening is if you have upgraded beyond the upgrade limit of your license (see above). If this is the case, you have the following choices:1) When the upgrade is installed, the installation program usually makes a backup in the \gpmaw\backup\ directory. If you copy the gpmaw3.exe program from here to replace the file of the same name which is located in \gpmaw\bin\. This should completely restore your previous version of GPMAW.2) Downgrade: Download one of the previous upgrades from the Download page and install this.3) Buy an upgrade to the most recent version of GPMAW. Independent of your installed version, the current price of an upgrade is US$ 170.- (July ‘15). This will give you an additional 1-1½ year of free upgrades (see Price page) in addition to new install media etc.4) Get a ‘demo’ code from Lighthouse data. This will keep the version running for another month - then you are back to choices 1-3.